Boone County buys equipment for tornado sirens

BELVIDERE — Local Boone County governments will need to spend more than $30,000 to ensure the area’s 27 tornado sirens will work.

Jennifer Wheeler

BELVIDERE — Local Boone County governments will need to spend more than $30,000 to ensure the area’s 27 tornado sirens will work.

The Federal Communications Commission has mandated that all public safety and industrial land mobile radio systems switch from wideband to narrowband by Jan. 1, 2013, to ensure the spectrum operates efficiently. Tornado sirens’ controllers must now operate on the narrowband frequency, which requires officials to purchase new equipment. If the sirens aren’t converted, they will not receive the radio signal sent by the county sheriff’s department.

“This will allow creation of additional channels within the same spectrum, thereby supporting more users,” according to the FCC’s website.